# Spanish speakers - help needed **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2007, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918 "2007-08-17T11:21:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ciudad\_rodrigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@ciudad\_rodrigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ciudad_rodrigo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/1 "2007-08-17T11:21:26Z")
How do you say “Fucking backpackers!” in Spanish. I ask this seeminly weird question because we’re writing a sketch and this’ll be one of the lines! ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/2 "2007-08-17T12:12:57Z")
It depends, is the scene in Spain or Latin America? If in Latin America, what region? ---
**Author:** ![ciudad\_rodrigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@ciudad\_rodrigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ciudad_rodrigo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/3 "2007-08-17T12:45:49Z")
Castilian Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/4 "2007-08-17T13:57:33Z")
I don’t know what the most apposite expletive would be, but a useful slang word for foreign tourists is “guiris” – I heard this a fair amount when I was in Spain. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/5 "2007-08-17T15:06:10Z")
I don’t know about Spain, but here in Panama backpackers are called _mochileros,_ from _mochila_, “backpack.” “Fucking” as an adjective varies regionally. In Spain and many other places it would be _jodido_; in Mexico perhaps _chingado_ . ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/6 "2007-08-17T15:20:10Z")
> [@](#): > > “Fucking” as an adjective varies regionally. In Spain and many other places it would be _jodido_; in Mexico perhaps _chingado_. These are literal translations? Do their uses map closely to the uses of the pejorative adjective “fucking” in American English? Are there more commonly-used Spanish words for the same idea (cf. British English “bloody”)? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/7 "2007-08-17T15:50:26Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] These are literal translations? Do their uses map closely to the uses of the pejorative adjective “fucking” in American English? Are there more commonly-used Spanish words for the same idea (cf. British English “bloody”)? [/QUOTE] Not really. In Mexico, the word which most closely “maps” to most uses of the word “fucking” is _pinche_. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/8 "2007-08-17T15:53:00Z")
I agree with “mochileros”. Although “mochila” is not the most common word for backpack all over the spanish speaking world, it is well understood everywhere, and I have heard the word “mochilero” even in countries where they don’t use “mochila”. As for “fucking”, it gets really dicey. “jodido” or “chingado” would be “fucked” more than “fucking”. “Fucking” would make no sense in spanish. “Malditos” (damned) would be a cleaner, safer alternative that would be understood everywhere. If you want this to use in Spain, I will wait for the Spaniards among us to come and present their particular regionalism. ---
**Author:** ![ciudad\_rodrigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@ciudad\_rodrigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ciudad_rodrigo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/9 "2007-08-17T16:13:20Z")
‘Malditos mochileros’ has a nice ring to it. I take it, in the absence of advice to the contrary, that that would be the preferred word order for such an exclamation. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/10 "2007-08-17T19:18:01Z")
This isn’t intended to be some double entendre whereby the backpackers are, in fact, fucking, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/11 "2007-08-17T19:30:50Z")
[QUOTE=ciudad rodrigo] ‘Malditos mochileros’ has a nice ring to it. I take it, in the absence of advice to the contrary, that that would be the preferred word order for such an exclamation. [/QUOTE] “Malditos mochileros”, yes. Balthisar raises a good point, though. If you give us the whole joke, maybe we can make sure it will make some sense. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/12 "2007-08-17T23:06:58Z")
Ha, that reminds me of an idiot friend way back in high school who thought “Dame cabeza” was a brilliant insult. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/13 "2007-08-17T23:28:22Z")
[QUOTE=bluethree] Ha, that reminds me of an idiot friend way back in high school who thought “Dame cabeza” was a brilliant insult. [/QUOTE] Or like when I was a beginner I’d utter (to bona fide Mexicans, no less), “chupame.” I’m told that this is more confusing than condescending. ---
**Author:** ![ChicanoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ChicanoRojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChicanoRojo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-speakers-help-needed/415918/14 "2007-08-18T01:13:55Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] Or like when I was a beginner I’d utter (to bona fide Mexicans, no less), “chupame.” I’m told that this is more confusing than condescending. [/QUOTE] LOL…yeah…well…it sounds like you are outing your self. 😃